Wateb heater



Se t. l 641 532 P 6 1927 T. P. cRoNlN WATER HEATER Filed Deo. 29, 1924 2Sheets-Sheet 1 /Msaz/o Z- 40* z//Wf/v Sept. 6.1927. T R CROWN 1,641,532

WATER HEATER Patented Sept'e, 1927.

UNITED STATESj TIMOTHY I. CRONIN, OI1 ST.` LOUIS; MISSOURI.

WATER HEATER.

Application led December 29, 1924. Serial' No. 758,563. i

ing these electrodes 'serving the purpose of a resistance element andbecoming heated by the passage of the electric current there'- through.

cally operated water heater which is so arranged that the watercompletes the circuit by contact-.ing with metallic electrodes and actsalso as a resistance element and which will automatically ceasefunctioning as soon as the water ceases touching the y'electricalelements, thereby eliminating all danger of burning out the elements7causing fire, or causing dangerous explosions .due to the water comingin contact with a' vhighly heated surface and suddently` flashing intosteam.

In the drawings:- Fig. 1 is an elevation of a water vboiler such as isused for steam or hot watertheating with my device attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of my device with theelectric switchremoved;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on 'the no line 3-3 of Fg- 2i Fig. 4is a top plan view of Fig. 2;.

,Fig 5 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3and illustrating the manner of positioning the electrodes within thewater chamber;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged top plan view with the upper plate kremoved andshowing the. switch whereby certain of the electrodes may be cut outofthe circuit if desired;

40 Fig. 7 is an enlarged verticalV section of the upper portion of oneof the electrodes with the binding postvformed integral;

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing a modified form wherein the bindingpost is molded in the electrode. Y

In the construction of my device I employ a water ,container 9 whichispreferably rectangular. rlhe upper end yof the container 9 is providedwith a flange 10 through to which a plurality of tappedholes extend,

the ,purpose of these holes will be 'explained in detail later.Extending from` the bottom of thek container 9 is aboss 11 which isprovided with internal screw threads 12 for ai' the purpose of attachinga-fwater connectionthereto. Extending from one of the A further objectis to constructan electri! sides and at a short distance below theflange 10 is a boss 13 which is provided with internal screw threads 14for the 'attaching of a water pipe.' The boss 11 is the inlet port, andthe boss 13 the outlet port. rlhe water chamber 9 is iprovided with acoating 15, both inside and out, which coating is either porcelain orsome other noncorrosive insulating substance and is for the purpose ofpreventing any possibility of the container becomingelectrified in anymanner, as welloas to prevent the same from becoming corroded eitherthrough the action of the water itself or through electrolysis.

` Resting on the flange 10 is a gasket` 16 on which is placed' a sheetof insulating vmateral 17, this sheet is of the same area.

as the upper portion of the container 9 and is secured 1n position bykmeans of screws 18 which pass through certain of the screw threadedopenings in the flange 10.

The plate 17 is provided with suitable spaced apart openings so astopermit the binding posts 19 which proj ect from the upper end of theelectrodes 20, to pass therethrough.

VAgainst the underside of the plate 17 is placed a sheet 21 which is ofresilient material and acts as a gasket to prevent leakagel c:

hroughV these holes or openings.` These plate `by means olf nuts 22which draw the upper ends of the electrodes tightly aga-inst the packing21. The lower ends., of 'the .c Y electrodes extend through a plate,r 23vwhich ger of these ends being moved to or from f each other andv thusvary the gap between the electrodes.V The upper edge of the plate 17 israbbeted so as to provide a shoulder on which is located a casing 24,this casing is in the shape of a frame and has located on its upper edgea plate 25. The plate 25 is held in position by means of screws 26whichv pass therethrough, through the plate 17 and into the remainingscrew threaded openings formed in the flange 10, and in order to preventthe plate from heilig drawn vdown too tight the screws 26 are surroundedby sleeves 27 which are located between the plates 17 and 25.

' electrodes are secured in position on the l.

yThe plate 25 is provided with openings f 28` ythrough `which electricconductors :29

pass, these electric conductors are secured vto the binding posts ot'adjacent" electrodes. IF rom these electrodes, electric conductors 30and 8l extend in a diagonal direction and terminate in contact buttons32 and 33 respectively. Located adjacent the contact button 32 iscontact button 3d, and adjacent the contact button 33 is a contactbutton Each one ot' the last mentioned contact. buttons connected to oneo'lI the remaining electrodes by means ot an 4electric conductor 36.'

Slida'oly mounted on' the plate 17 is a switch arm 37 `which carriescontact plates 38 and 39 respectively.- Tl'iese plates are spaced apart'from each other and are' ot su'liicient Width so that the plate 3J willbridge acrossihe Contact buttons 32 andy Pfl, and the plate 39 acrossthe buttons and 35. The purpose of this switch is to cut certain of theelectrodes outl of the circuit andy sare electric current,` this will beexplained in' detail later. l

The electric Vconductors 29 lead to a suit able switch 40 and from thisswitch lead electric conductors il which are attached to the power line.The switch Otis of the type which is commercially `known as the twocircuit switch, in other words, a switch which will simultaneously'break the circuit in both lines so-that there'will be no possibility ofany electric current reaching;` th electrodes whenthe switchhas beenturned oil'.

In Fig. l' Ihaveshownthe switch l0 as beingy mounted on top of the'plate25, this, however, is not essential as the switch may be placed at anysuitable point removed from the devicewithout'disturbing its operationin the least. In 'Figs l I' have shown my def-rice as attached to aheating` system, either of steam or water, in which the boiler, 4B theoutflow pipe, and 44 the return pipe. In attaching-my device I'locafteav valvefl'in the outliow pipe Lvl-3 adjacent the boiler, andimmediately above this valve is placed a T'lG, to the T is attachedanipple 4.-?, to which nipple is attached a valve 4 8. To the valve 4&8is attachedone end ot a pipe 49, the opposite end of this pipe'b'eingattached -to the outlet port of the water chamber 9. Y

To Athe inlet port fof the water lchamber is attached aV pipe (ith-whichVpipe is inturnconnectedtoa valve 5l in any ysuitable mane; ner. Thevalve lbeinglrin turneattachedto'a T 52 which is `located inthe return'pipe tand between -the T 52and theboiler 42 is lattached avalve 53:'

It is my. purpose 'to use' thedeviceA thus assembled tomain'tai'n theheating sy`st'em'i1-i operation.Jv after thewater has* once become"heated by the boiler, this isfdoneinthe-foli lowing'mannerzThe valves 48`andi-51i are closedr and thfe fvalvse and' 153 opeued 'and the contentsofA the boiler brought up to a suitable tei'nperature by the use otlordinary fuel. After this temperature has been reached the valves t5 and53 are closed and the valves ile and are opened, this permits the waterwhich descends through the return pipe flat, due to its cooling, toenter intothe bottom oit the chamber t). The electric current is thenturned on and the water becomes heated by the electric current passingtherethrough, 'Hows out through the pipe Ai9 and up through the outletpipe 43.' Should the water in the chamber 9 at any time become so hot asto be converted into steam, the vaction of the electric currentautomatically discontinued by the fact that there is not suilicientmoisture in this chamber to form a circuit between the electrodes, butimmediately upon condensation again {manine-in the chamber andbecon'iiir sutilv cientlyI dee'pto permit the electrodes to eX` tendtherein, electric contact is immediately re-establif-:hed and theheating` resumed. ShouldI lind-that the water in the chamber heats toorapidly when all electrodes are employed, the switch 377 is movedintothe position shown in Figz-G. This permits only two electrodes tofunction,\tli`e remainingr beingcutout of the circuit, and yshould itthen be decided to heatthe Watermore rapidly the switch is moved intothe position indicated by dotted lines so thatffthe plates 38 andi'will-bridge across 'the contact buttons andthrow Ithe additionalelectrodes into service in this manner.

liiy'device canbe used for maintaining` a heating system tothe propertemperature without any attention on the part oi the user. My device canals`o-be` attached' to individual radiators or heating* coils andoperatedi ata relzlitively low cost and consumptioirof current and'withabsi'ilutely no danger oit' lire, because should the water at" any timeevaporate completely out ofthe chambe'rf), ther flow of`elect-riccurrent immediately ceases because the space orflgap between'Vthe electrodos is` of sutiicient' size that no arc'ing takes place,consequently the electrodes' donot heat'up but remain cold and' at'notime do they become any hotter than tlietempera-ture" of' the Water.

The electrodes 'of myd'e'viice are made of metalwhichx does notcor-.rode freinl the action of water and whichlresists electrolysis so'lthat -a set' of electrodes 1 will lasta very long!r time and Willnot'discolo'r the water ior precipitate `particles! of theelectrodesvtherein' whic'hf'mightpossibly come to rest on the plate" 23andcause a fshort circuit.` My device caribe-used either wit-h1 directorl alternating eur-rent andV theconsumption of current 'is regulated byl spacing# the l electrodesf'closer togetherf orfarth'er apart.v I have'found that' by i bringing the lelectro des' closerv together f thecurrent' consiirnptfionl its" greater and consequently the heating ofthe water also takes place more rapidly than if the electrodes arespaced farther apart.

While Ihave shown the electrodes as being square in cross section and asusing four electrodes, I de not desire to limit myself to this peculiarshape and arrangement ot electrodes, as these may be both varied inshape and arrangement without departing from the spirit ofiE myinvention.

In my device all of the heat is created di'- rectly in the water andconsequently none lost as is the case where a resistance element isemployed, because in this instance, a certain amount of electricalenergy is consumer.

in iirst heating up the resistance coil, after this has been heatedadditional energy is employed in order to heat up the casing`surrounding the f heating element betere any heat can be imparted to thewater. rIhis necessitates quite a consui'nption ot electric current andthese two preliminary heating elements are obviated in my device.thermore, where fuel is used in order to heat the water, a vast amountof heat units pass out through the chimney, then again the heat must beapplied yto the outside ot the container in which the water to be heatedis located. rlhis consumes a great deal oit heat and by heating` thecontainer in this vmanner a lot of heat is lost by conduct-ion becausethe entire container, which is usually formed of metal. makes anexcellent heat conductor. It will` therefore be readilyr seen that by mydevice all these heat losses are eliminated because the heating takesplace directly in the water ,itself and consequently permits the readyabsorption of the heat units by the water without the necessity of firstheating up some other element and permitting it to heat the water byconduction.

The material outol which the electrodes Furis made is from suchsubstance as platinum or other material which will not readily becomeoxidized so that there will always be a clean surface, which willreadily permit the electrical current to pass therefrom. I have foundthat by using ordinary steel or iron that the surface will in timebecome corroded and offer resistance to the passage ot the electricalcurrent, while electrodes, which are made of carb-on or simiar material,will deteriorate and in time completely foul the water in-which they aresuspended, and thus in time build up sediment which will eventuallyshort circuit the electrodes.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim is:

A water heater comprising a water container, open at its top, a plate ofinsulating material for closing said container, a plurality etelectrodes carried by said plate and extending into said container,electric con dnctors for supplying electric energy to said electrodes,aswitch mounted on said plate whereby certain ot said electrodes may beplaced in and out of circuit, a second plate oi insulating materiallocated above and spaced apart from the tirst mentioned plate, saidsecond mentioned-plate being provided with openings to permit thepassage ot the con* ductors, a switch mounted onthe second mentionedplate for controlling the electric energy through said conductors, a.Water inlet located in the bottom of said container, a water outletadjacent the top of said container whereby a circulation of water isobtained, and means surrounding said electrodes adjacent their lowerends for holding said electrodes in spaced relation to each other.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

TIMOTHY P. CRONIN.

